PODCAST · music
The Third Story with Leo Sidran
by Leo Sidran
THE THIRD STORY features long-form interviews with creative people of all types, hosted by musician Leo Sidran. Their stories of discovery, loss, ambition, identity, risk, and reward are deeply moving and compelling for all of us as we embark on our own creative journeys.
Episodes
-
334: Monty Alexander
Legendary Jamaican pianist Monty Alexander reflects on his extraordinary journey from the early days of ska in Kingston to the New York jazz scene, where he befriended Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis and countless other musical icons. He discusses his new album A Jamarican in Paris, his self-taught...
-
333: Richard Marx
Richard Marx was one of the defining voices of late-'80s pop, with hits like "Right Here Waiting," "Endless Summer Nights" and "Hold On to the Nights." But his career as a songwriter began long before his rise to stardom. In this conversation, Marx reflects on growing up in a musical family, the...
-
332: Harry Connick Jr.
Harry Connick, Jr. has spent four decades as one of the most recognizable and versatile figures in American music — a pianist, singer, composer, arranger, actor and entertainer whose career has moved freely between jazz, pop, Broadway, film and television. His new project, Babe: Elaboratio — A...
-
331: Nicole Zuraitis
Nicole Zuraitis has spent much of her career being asked (and asking herself) variations of the same question: where do you fit? Is the music jazz? Is it pop? Is it cabaret? Her new album, The Devil I Knew, doesn't exactly settle the question. Instead, it makes the question seem increasingly…
more -
Duncan Sheik (from 2020)
Duncan Sheik's career did not follow a straight line. After studying semiotics at Brown University, he emerged in the mid 1990s as a pop singer songwriter with his hit "Barely Breathing", and quickly revealed himself to bend toward more literate adult oriented rock. He continued to make records…
more -
330: Sullivan Fortner
Sullivan Fortner is one of the most admired and influential pianists of his generation, a musician whose curiosity stretches from the traditions of jazz and gospel to synthesizers, studio experimentation and beyond. Here Sullivan talks about growing up in New Orleans, learning to play organ in...
-
329: Sofia Rei
Argentine singer, composer and producer Sofía Rei talks about leaving Buenos Aires and rediscovering the music of home, moving beyond the boundaries of jazz, embracing electronics and production, and learning from collaborators and students. Her new album, Antónima, brings those threads together...
-
328: Ashley Kahn
Forty years ago this month, Paul Simon released Graceland, an album that became one of the defining records of his career, and one of the most celebrated and debated albums of its era. The record would go on to sell millions of copies and win the Grammy for Album of the Year. It would also…
more -
327: Ben Sidran at 83
For his 83rd birthday, Ben Sidran revisits a 1974 DownBeat profile (done when he was 30) and considers what has changed - and what hasn't - over more than half a century of music and life. In his annual birthday conversation with Leo, he reflects on aging, ambition, practice and the surprising...
-
326: Ben Wikler
Ben Wikler has spent his career moving between comedy and politics, communication and organizing. Growing up in Madison, Wisconsin, a city shaped by civic engagement, academic inquiry, and the satirical spirit that gave rise to The Onion, he developed a worldview in which humor isn't a…
more -
325: Ben Sidran - Free In America
A conversation with Ben Sidran, from Greece on America's 250th birthday, about jazz, democracy, identity, and what remains when the scaffolding begins to shake.
-
324: Heather Aimee O'Neill
Before The Irish Goodbye became one of the most acclaimed debut novels of 2025, Heather Aimee O'Neill spent years quietly writing it while building a career helping other writers tell their stories. Here, she discusses the vulnerability of ambition, the challenge of living an authentic life, and...
-
323: Lakecia Benjamin
Saxophonist and bandleader Lakecia Benjamin has become one of the most dynamic voices in jazz today. Here she talks about hanging up on Clark Terry, finding her way from Washington Heights to the international stage, and how the mentors, heroes, setbacks and aspirations that shaped her journey...
-
322: Miles Davis
Miles Davis spent his life searching. He changed the sound of jazz repeatedly, assembling generations of musicians around him and pushing constantly toward something new. Few artists loom so large over the history of the music. To mark what would have been his 100th birthday today, I'm revisiting…
more -
321: Julieta Venegas
Mexican singer-songwriter Julieta Venegas on how growing up in Tijuana - a border city suspended between Mexico and the United States - developed an instinct for living "in-between," musically and personally. She traces her path from a musically curious childhood in Tijuana to her move to Mexico...
-
320: Dida Pelled
Dida Pelled on her latest album I Wish You Would, a blues-focused project recorded with Tony Scherr, Kenny Wollesen, and Sullivan Fortner. Along the way she considers her approach to tradition, identity, and finding a personal voice across genres. And she talks about she discovered the truth…
more -
319: Emily Cavanagh's Song For You
Singer, songwriter, and founder of Song For You, Emily Cavanagh on music, service, resilience, and finding purpose in uncertain times. In the early days of the pandemic, Emily began calling hospitals with one simple question: "Does anyone need a song?" That question became A Song For You, a...
-
318: Michael Leviton and The Tell
At his monthly series The Tell, writer and storyteller Michael Leviton brings together performers and audiences for an evening where nothing is scripted and no lineup is announced. At The Tell, audiences arrive without knowing who will take the stage. Each night features four storytellers and two...
-
317: Janis Siegel and The Scent of Danger
When singer Janis Siegel was invited to help produce a Women's History Month event at the United Nations, everything seemed aligned—until she was told, just days before, that she would not be allowed to speak. She had been flagged for her social media posts. Here she reflects on that moment and...
-
316: Ben Sidran - Jazz and Modernism
When I arrived in Palm Springs last month, a few days before the concert-lecture I was to play with my father, Ben Sidran, I found him surrounded by months of research notes, trying to wrestle his ideas into something coherent. The performance was part of the Palm Springs International Jazz...
-
315: Phoebe Katis
Phoebe Katis — a UK-born, New York–based songwriter can pinpoint the moment when her life and career were quietly reoriented. It started with a single direct message. Katis traces her journey from being a young singer-songwriter in England, measuring herself against inherited ideas of success, to...
-
314: Keren Ann
Keren Ann was born in Israel, spent her early years in the Netherlands, and later moved to France. The daughter of a Russian-Jewish father and a Dutch-Javanese mother, she grew up multilingual and deeply aware that identity, language, and place are always in motion. She began writing songs as a...
-
313: Dan Pashman
Dan Pashman is one of those increasingly rare people who always wanted to be in radio. His career began at the turn of the millennium as a producer and reporter for NPR, Air America, and SiriusXM. But after six layoffs in under a decade—and an industry in steady contraction—Pashman found himself…
more -
312: Kurt Elling Returns
Kurt Elling returns for a wide-ranging conversation about vocation, gratitude, and what it means to be in service of the music. Elling first appeared on The Third Story nearly ten years ago, already one of the most celebrated singers of his generation and still deeply focused on what he calls…
more -
311: Cafe Central, Madrid
The Café Central, a jazz club located just off Madrid's Puerta del Sol — Spain's "Kilometer Zero" — has been going out of business for more than forty years. And now, it finally might. Opened in the early 1980s during Spain's cultural reopening after Franco's dictatorship, Café Central became a...
-
310: Remembering Phil Upchurch
Guitarist, bassist, composer Phil Upchurch died on November 23, and with his passing the music world lost one of its true "musician's musicians." Upchurch played on more than a thousand recordings — from Michael Jackson, Donny Hathaway, Chaka Khan, Curtis Mayfield, and George Benson to Jimmy…
more -
309: Madison Cunningham
Madison Cunningham's new album Ace marks a striking and vulnerable chapter in the young songwriter's evolution. Not yet 30, Cunningham has already lived through a period of profound personal transformation. She married young, divorced young, and found herself rebuilding her identity in the wake…
more -
308: Theo Bleckmann
Singer and composer Theo Bleckmann has spent his career between categories - jazz and avant-garde, improvisation and composition, structure and discovery. Born in Germany, he began as a boy soprano and figure skater before discovering jazz and moving to New York to study with Sheila Jordan. Since...
-
307: dodie
British singer-songwriter dodie has spent half her life in public. Long before algorithms and engagement metrics ruled the day, she began posting homemade songs and videos on YouTube as a teenager from Essex. Her soft voice, self-effacing humor, and unfiltered honesty drew millions of viewers who...
-
306: Vera Brandes
The Köln Concert by Keith Jarrett is one of the most iconic recordings in jazz history — a completely improvised solo piano performance, recorded in 1975, that became both the best-selling solo album and the best-selling piano album of all time. And yet, the concert almost didn't happen. The new...
-
305: Jacob Jeffries
Pianist, songwriter, and performer Jacob Jeffries the morning after he played Madison Square Garden with Vulfpeck, reflecting on the surreal thrill of performing in the legendary arena with his close friends, while also grounding the experience in the everyday reality of being a working musician....
-
304: Leonor Watling
Born and raised in Madrid, Leonor Watling grew up between cultures, the daughter of a Spanish academic father and a British mother who had been raised in Africa. From an early age she was aware of both the fragility and the richness of life: her father was sick for much of her childhood and…
more -
303: Stella Cole
Stella Cole went from nearly giving up singing in college to becoming one of the breakout stars of the pandemic era, thanks to her viral performances of American Songbook standards on TikTok. Now signed to Decca and releasing her second full length album It's Magic, she talks about following her...
-
302: Ben Sidran at 82
Every year on his birthday, my dad and I sit down for a conversation. It started when he turned 76, and with a few exceptions, we've done it ever since - capturing an ongoing record of where his head and heart are at that particular moment. Over the years we've talked about music, memory…
more -
301: Mary Sweeney Returns
In 2018, film editor, producer, writer, and director Mary Sweeney sat down for a wide-ranging conversation about her career — from growing up in Madison, Wisconsin, to collaborating with one of the most visionary directors of our time, David Lynch. That conversation traced her evolution as an...
-
300: Moses Patrou
Moses Patrou has spent the past twenty-five years in New York, carving out a unique space as a multi-instrumentalist and bandleader. From early days in Madison, Wisconsin playing hand drums in hip hop bands, to immersing himself in Cuban and Brazilian traditions, to gigging across the city in…
more -
299: Joe Henry
For Joe Henry, truth in songwriting doesn't come from confession or fact. It comes from presence, from listening, from surrender, from giving shape to the ineffable. As he puts it: "Total presence—that is the code of my road." Henry's road has taken him across both the literal and metaphorical…
more -
298 - Aron!
Aron! is only 22, but his music seems to exist outside of time. A singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist from North Carolina, he studied classical guitar, jazz voice, and film scoring—playing everything from indie rock in a college band to Nat King Cole covers in retirement homes—before...
-
297: Natalia Lafourcade
Over the past two decades, Natalia Lafourcade has evolved from alt-pop prodigy to one of the most revered voices in Latin American music. With 15 Latin Grammys and 4 Grammys to her name, she's known for blending contemporary expression with deep cultural roots. Her latest album, Cancionera, is a...
-
296: Terri Lyne Carrington
Terri Lyne Carrington has spent her life behind the drums—and out in front. In this wide-ranging conversation, the Grammy-winning musician, educator, and activist reflects on her remarkable journey from child prodigy to visionary bandleader, and from mentee to mentor. She shares stories from her...
-
295 - pablopablo
pablopablo - born Pablo Drexler - is a Madrid-based singer, songwriter, and producer. The son of two acclaimed artists, Jorge Drexler and Ana Laan, here he talks about how he found his own voice, sound, and artistic identity. His debut full-length album, Canciones en mi, is out now. The title is…
more -
288: Crossing the river - 20 years of "Al otro lado del rio"
Twenty years ago, "Al otro lado del río" became the first Spanish-language song to win an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Written by Jorge Drexler in a single day while staying in Madison, Wisconsin, and recorded in a mix of home and studio settings, the song's journey was as unexpected as...
-
294: Suzanne Vega
Legendary singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega looks back at her remarkable career — and forward to her new album, Flying with Angels, her first collection of original songs in nearly a decade. From the moment she emerged in the 1980s with her self-titled debut and follow-up Solitude Standing, Vega has...
-
293: Arturo O'Farrill
When Arturo O'Farrill was 19 years old, playing piano in a bar in upstate New York, he was spotted by Carla Bley—who promptly invited him to join her band. At the time, he was doing everything he could to distance himself from the legacy of his father, the legendary Cuban composer Chico…
more -
292: Max Pollak
When he was five years old, Max Pollak had a moment. Sitting in front of a black-and-white television in suburban Vienna, he saw Fred Astaire tap dancing for the first time. "I was so spellbound by his elegance and his effortless swinging persona that I immediately decided I have to learn how to…
more -
291: Raul Midón
Self-proclaimed "badass and blind" singer, songwriter, guitarist Raul Midón in an expansive and deeply personal conversation about music, identity, independence, and the art of seeing clearly without sight. From his childhood fascination with radio and jazz in a small New Mexico town to his...
-
290: Stephin Merritt (The Magnetic Fields)
Songwriter Stephin Merritt on impermanence, organizing principles, and the art of constraints: Raised by a spiritually seeking mother, Merritt moved 33 times by age 22 and describes himself as a "hippie brat" who "never liked children—even as a child." This sense of solitude shaped his singular...
-
289: Nels Cline
For decades, Nels Cline carved out a career on the fringes of rock, jazz, and experimental music, balancing day jobs with an uncompromising artistic vision. Then, at nearly 50 years old, everything changed—he joined Wilco, bringing his avant-garde sensibilities into a beloved band and reaching a...
-
287: Steven Greenberg (Lipps, Inc.)
Steven Greenberg, the creative force behind the hit "Funkytown," on crafting one of the most enduring dance tracks of all time, bridging the transition from disco to synth-driven pop, and the discipline required to bring musical ideas to life in an era before digital shortcuts. 00:00 Intro 4:00...
-
286: Makaya McCraven
Drummer, producer, and composer Makaya McCraven, whose work bridges improvisation, production, and cultural synthesis, on rhythm, time, and the balance of tradition and innovation, plus his creative journey, from his roots in Northampton, Massachusetts, to his innovative projects like In The…
more
We're indexing this podcast's transcripts for the first time — this can take a minute or two. We'll show results as soon as they're ready.
No matches for "" in this podcast's transcripts.
No topics indexed yet for this podcast.
Loading reviews...
ABOUT THIS SHOW
THE THIRD STORY features long-form interviews with creative people of all types, hosted by musician Leo Sidran. Their stories of discovery, loss, ambition, identity, risk, and reward are deeply moving and compelling for all of us as we embark on our own creative journeys.
HOSTED BY
Leo Sidran
Loading similar podcasts...
Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Third Story with Leo Sidran have?
The Third Story with Leo Sidran currently has 354 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Third Story with Leo Sidran about?
THE THIRD STORY features long-form interviews with creative people of all types, hosted by musician Leo Sidran. Their stories of discovery, loss, ambition, identity, risk, and reward are deeply moving and compelling for all of us as we embark on our own creative journeys.
How often does The Third Story with Leo Sidran release new episodes?
The Third Story with Leo Sidran publishes regularly with 354 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to The Third Story with Leo Sidran?
You can listen to The Third Story with Leo Sidran on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Third Story with Leo Sidran?
The Third Story with Leo Sidran is created and hosted by Leo Sidran.
URL copied to clipboard!